Dreaming of You
by God's Broken Dreamer
Summary: It all began with a simple scroll retrieval mission. But, nothing that appears simple ever is.
1. Dreaming

**_Hey. Welcome back with a brand new chapter of dreaming of you after months and months without an update._**

**_Trust me. I'm very sorry._**

**_Thanks goes out to the people who put this on their alert list even though it was so short last chapter._**

**_So to make up for that I'm bringing you a chapter that's longer than any chapter I've ever written for you guys before._**

**_(Don 't you love me?)_**

**_Anyways..._**

"Talking"

_thinking_

**_Disclaimer: I don't own naruto. I do own one of the volumes and a few copies of shonen jump though._**

**_Enjoy! _**

**_Chapter One: Yume_**

Trust.

Trust is the foundation of a relationship.

The base upon which it is built.

And, if there are problems, what keeps it alive.

Sakura Haruno had no trust left to give.

All the times she'd ever trusted she'd been stabbed in the back...

And it'd all begun with a stone bench and drying tears.

Or maybe it had started before that and she'd just never noticed, too busy with Sasuke to notice anything.

Nowadays thoughts of him made her scoff at how foolish she was when she was still a member of team seven.

But those days were over now and there was no going back.

Now she hid her face behind an ANBU mask, she no longer felt comfortable without her uniform.

Things change, people most of all.

And everything revolved around that stupid bench.

The one she was sitting on now.

The one _he'd_ left her on.

She rubbed her arms as a sudden chill entered the air. "What are you doing here?"

The man jumped down from the tree he had been perched in. "Do you have such a problem with me being here, Ugly?"

"Why is it that you can never call me by name?" Sakura snapped. "I do have one you know, it's Sa-ku-ra."

"I know what your name is, Ugly. I just like my nickname for you much better."

She scowled at him. "I swear I should've killed you long before now."

"But if you killed me then who would be your precious Sasuke's replacement? What would team seven be without me?"

BAM!

A chakra laden fist sent him flying into a tree with a satisfying snap. "Ass."

He groaned and stood up, rubbing his back. "You pack quite a punch Ugly."

She rubbed her knuckles and glared at him. "Like I said, what are you doing here, Sai?"

"Hokage-sama wants you and your team for a mission."

"I assume you already got them?"

"Hai."

"Couldn't she have just sent a bird?" she muttered in annoyance, looking one last time at Sai before disappearing in a flurry of petals.

Sai was left staring at the patch of ground where she had just been standing.

He let his gaze wander to the bench she'd been sitting on and his eyes hardened, a surprising show of emotion. "Quite a punch indeed, Sakura."

* * *

Tsunade cursed and threw a now-empty sake bottle at the wall. It shattered into a million pieces and the ANBU team in front of her flinched.

The great wooden doors to her office shuddered open and Shizune poked her head in. "Sakura's on her way here Tsunade-Sama."

Tsunade gave a curt nod, dismissing her and turned her chair to face the window. Sakura was a lot like her old sensei. She used the windows, not the doors.

True to Shizune's word, Sakura arrived in less than two minutes, landing nimbly on the windowsill.

"You needed me Tsunade-shishou?" She nodded absently to her team, acknowledging their presence as she slipped into the room.

Tsunade swung her chair back around to face the team once again. "Hai. Thank you all for coming even though you just got back yesterday from a mission. Unfortunately with the constant threat to Konoha by Taka and the Akatsuki as well as the deaths of many good shinobi our forces are stretched extremely thin." The names hung heavy in the air and the Hokage was silent for a few moments. Asuma and Jiraiya would be missed.

She shook her head to clear the dark thoughts and massaged the bridge of her nose. "Anyways...I need you all to retrieve a scroll for me."

Sakura was confused. An entire ANBU squad for just one scroll? A chunin alone could do such a mission normally. "What is so important about this scroll that requires an entire team to be sent to retrieve it?"

Tsunade sighed, clasping her hands in front of her on the desk. "This scroll is rumored to contain the secrets to Orochimaru's curse seal jutsu. As such we cannot allow it to fall into the hands of anyone else."

At the mention of Orochimaru, everyone in the room stiffened, Sakura's eyes visibly narrowed, and the temperature of the room dropped a few degrees. Sasuke had gone to Orochimaru. Sasuke was a topic best never even hinted at around Sakura.

The room was silent for a few moments before Sakura once again spoke up. "That still doesn't explain why an entire team is being sent. You said yourself that our forces are stretched thin."

Tsunade sighed and shook her head. "How do you think we heard about this scroll. Rumors. This rumor has spread and many shinobi would kill to have the secrets contained in that scroll. Many powerful shinobi will be after the team who retrieves that scroll. It will be safe within the village but until it's here it's fair game."

Satisfied, Sakura nodded. "Then I suppose we must keep it safe at all costs. We should leave to prepare. We'll meet at the gates at dawn. Until then?"

Her team nodded their heads each turning to walk from the room. She moved to follow but was called back by Tsunade.

"Sakura."

"Hai, Tsunade-shishou?"

"If it comes down to it...I don't give a damn about that scroll. My apprentice comes back alive."

Sakura was silent for a few moments before nodding. "Hai." She turned to leave but was once again stopped.

"Sakura. I mean it. If you have to choose between you coming back or the scroll coming back you pick you. We can always retrieve the scroll later."

A small smile curved Sakura's lips. "Hai."

As she pushed open the doors and walked out into the hall Tsunade watched with worried eyes for, after all, they both knew that, if it came to down to it, she'd pick the scroll.

* * *

Sakura slowly meandered her way through the back roads of Konoha. The streets were empty by this hour and the air hung heavy in silence, as if the world were holding its breath. She sighed, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her black shinobi pants. "You can come out now Kakashi-sensei."

There was a small 'tk' sound as he landed softly on the pavement behind her, falling into step at her side. "Yo. How long did it take you to realize I was there?"

"Well you've been following me for about six blocks as far as I could tell."

"Ooo. You're getting better." His one visible eye crinkled at the edge, the only sign that he was smiling. " But actually, I've been following you for eight."

She turned to face him, a smile breaking through her emotionless mask. "Ne, Kakashi-sensei, hasn't anyone ever told you it's bad to lie?"

He pause, his eye crinkling again. "What makes you think I'm lying?"

"Well, it's just that, you've actually been following me for only 7 blocks."

He reached out and ruffled her hair like she was a child again. "Right you are. Very good, Sakura."

She started walking again, her mask sliding back into place. "So did you just get back from a mission?"

He nodded, matching her pace. "What about you?"

"I got back yesterday."

"When's your next mission?"

"I leave tomorrow at dawn."

"Already? You barely got a full days rest. You're still in your uniform."

"Our forces are stretched thin. You know that."

"But that doesn't mean your team couldn't wait at least one more day for this mission."

"Some things, Kakashi-sensei, cannot be put off until tomorrow."

He sighed, pulling out a copy of _Icha Icha_. "I know."

And that was the end of their conversation. They walked together in silence for some time until their paths split. Each of them tossed a lazy wave over their shoulder as they went their separate ways, because ,after all, no matter how close you may be to someone, everyone has to take a different path eventually.

* * *

Sakura returned to awareness with the sound of an awful beeping.

Her alarm clock was going off.

She rolled over and fixed the problem with a fist.

That alarm clock would never ring again. How could it? After all, it _was_ in pieces.

She groaned, slipping from bed with stiff muscles. She'd been up late last night pouring over the information for the mission today.

According to their information the scroll was being kept in a small village on the edge of Fire's border with Sound that meant about two and a half days travel for her and her team.

Supposedly only a few high-level shinobi were guarding the scroll but Sakura was still suspicious. Why would Tsunade send a whole team of ANBU if it looked as though only two could handle it? Even if there were high-level shinobi who would be after it after it was retrieved it still didn't make sense.

She looked out her window to ascertain how much time she had left until dawn. Figuring she only had a few minutes she grabbed her pack and disappeared in a flurry of petals.

* * *

Kei groaned, elbowing Akito in the side. "If we weren't supposed to meet until dawn why were we here a half an hour early?"

Akito shot him a glare. "Because if by some chance Sakura-sama arrived before us then we would be considered late, remember what happened when Shinto was late?"

Each of them shuddered but Kei pressed on. "But Sakura-sama's like Kakashi-sensei. She's always late."

Akito sighed. "Yes, yes 'caught on the road of life' or 'helped deliver a baby' and all that although, for all we know, the latter could be true."

"Could be, but most likely isn't." This was a new voice, belonging to yet another man.

"Eh? Shinto! You're early, that's a first." Kei blinked at him for a few moments before receiving a haughty retort.

"But I'm still here before _her_."

"Don't be so sure. Don't you children know it's rude to gossip?" The three snapped to attention at the sound of a female voice, turning to face the gates and Sakura, who was now leaning against them. "If I was an enemy you all would be dead. Learn from your mistake, you must be aware at all times."

All three gulped and nodded stiffly, each thinking of how glad they were that she was on their side. God have mercy on their enemies, because _she_ would not.

* * *

They were resting.

Well, most of them were.

Sakura was awake.

She'd volunteered to take the first watch and really had no intention of waking any of them up for them to replace her.

After all they _were_ at an inn, there were only two possible entrances to their room and Sakura was confident that she would be able to handle anyone who came through either one of them.

She sighed and hugged herself. She'd become cold although the air didn't carry the least bit of chill. She'd been cold for years now. It was no longer physical, the cold had seeped through her flesh and buried itself deep within her heart. Ever since they'd left her behind, just like everyone else had.

The only people who hadn't given up on her were Tsunade and Kakashi. Even her parents had given up on her, stopped pestering her to visit whenever they saw her at the market or in the flower shop.

She'd even lost sight of herself for a time. It'd gotten so bad she'd stopped eating, didn't show up for her hospital shifts or training, didn't even answer her phone or the door. It had been Kakashi who'd found her collapsed on her bedroom floor.

She still remembered his face as he'd been shaking her, even with his mask and forehead protector, she could see the pure terror on his face, thinking he was losing someone important yet again.

Tsunade and Kakashi hadn't left her alone since then, ever since she'd woken up in the hospital they'd been watching her, making sure she ate, going so far as to invite themselves over for dinner at least once a week. Kakashi had actually taken her out to eat and paid quite a few times.

Even knowing how worried they were she just couldn't bring herself to care. So she'd put on a mask to cover exactly how heartless and truly broken she'd become.

Nowadays she wondered if that emotionless mask really was a mask. She was pretty sure that she wasn't the only one.

She turned to look at the bed and smiled as Akito blinked wearily at her. "Sakura-sama you really had no intention to wake anyone up, did you?"

Her smile became slightly wistful and she turned, walking to the window. "No. No I didn't."

He rolled from the bed and to his feet walking over next to her and slinging an arm around her shoulders. "Well that's okay Sakura-sama. I'll stay up with you."

She turned giving him a condescending look. "You need your rest."

"And so do you. But we'll both be able to function without it."

Sakura shook her head. "Point made, now shut up and guard the door."

He grinned at her before moving to do as he was told and she couldn't help but to shoot him a small smile, after all she _was_ grateful for his company.

* * *

Sakura blinked against a spray of blood as she jammed her kunai into the shoulder of the shinobi who was attacking her. He wore a sound forehead protector and would be useful for information so she didn't kill him. Instead she used her green glowing hands to hit a few pressure points and send him into unconsciousness.

She turned finding that her teammates had taken care of the other two shinobi, although not in the way she had. You only needed one survivor to get information.

"So which one of you volunteers to go carry him back to Konoha?" Sakura hoisted the unconscious man up by his collar, shaking her head against their protests. "Ah, Shinto thanks for offering." He'd been the one who'd groaned the loudest. It was almost funny the face he'd made when she'd tossed the man over to him like he weighed nothing.

Shinto had been knocked off his feet, but nonetheless he'd picked himself and the man up and turned back for Konoha, following orders.

Sakura turned and surveyed the area. "The village should be just ahead. It's probably abandoned since we crossed the sound border a few miles back. Remember what I said back in Konoha. You must always be aware of your surroundings. One little slip could mean you're dead."

The two men nodded and each of them split up, heading a different way toward the village.

Sakura fingered a senbon needle, observing the village carefully from a treetop perch. There were seven chakra signatures, two were obviously Akito and Kei, but the other five had to be the scroll's guardians.

Their chakra levels weren't really that special, barely even matching up to Akito or Kei and nowhere near hers. Now she was confused, if these were the scroll's guardians then why were they so low level?

She pulled out the mission scroll and looked again at the passage about the scroll's guardians. A few high level ninja? Not so much.

Putting it back into her back she came to the conclusion that the scroll actually wasn't guarded, then those other five chakra signatures had to be people after the scroll.

They'd split up by now and she smirked. Two were coming her way and they deserved her warmest welcome.

* * *

Akito heard the first explosion from where Sakura had gone and knew she'd met up with some ninja. He caught a piece of rubble before it hit his head and jumped down from his own perch on a rooftop, wielding a katana.

One of the ninja below was killed instantly. _Like Sakura-sama said, even one moment of distraction could mean you were dead. _

The second ninja was smarter than his dead companion and had jumped to the side to avoid the weapon. He blocked the second swing but was unable to avoid the swift punch to the abdomen Akito delivered.

While he was still reeling from that, Akito sent an elbow into his adams apple and slit the man's throat while he was choking.

He leaned down and wiped the blood off his blade on the first dead ninja as the second explosion sounded from over where Sakura was, he scanned the area swiftly and, satisfied that there were no more ninja began to head toward the scroll's location according to map.

* * *

Kei twisted quickly to avoid the shuriken thrown at him and lifted his kunai to block yet another. This was getting tiresome, he'd been dodging weapons for the last three minutes. Didn't this person ever run out of ammo?

He leapt from the roof and flipped to the ground in front of the person, slamming a palm into their chest. They choked for a minute, giving him wide eyes. He smiled cruelly as they fell, a small stream of blood trickling down their chin.

"Chishio Tetsu" It was his Kekkai Genkai. His family wasn't originally from Konoha, quite a few generations back they'd moved from stone. They'd been a shinobi family there and he was the only one since then who'd discovered their kekkai genkai.

He'd ruptured one of their lungs with their own blood, speeding up the flow and forming a sharp iron spike within their blood stream, sending it up to their brain. It'd been a quick and painful death, but then again those shuriken had annoyed him to no end.

He pushed off the ground, jumping back onto the rooftop and running towards their destination, sensing Akito doing the same.

* * *

"How do you think Shinji and Taka are doing?" The voice floated to Sakura on the wind.

"Shut you moron! You're almost as bad as Aya. Do you want to alert anyone of our presence?"

"Oh come on captain, this village's abandoned. There's no one here."

"Listen you idiot we aren't the only people after that scroll, so shut up."

"But-" He never got to finish, the ground at his feet exploding in front of him and making him jump back.

A few nearby houses crumbled under the force of the shaking, the captain was shouting, and he couldn't see. Then there was a flash of pink and he threw up a kunai, blocking one of the girl's fans. It was the other one that took him out.

* * *

The captain turned just in time to see his partner fall. _Eh the idiot was too naive anyway._

He threw a kunai, jumping above the rubble and dust to land on a tree branch, squinting into the clouds of dirt for his opponent.

The second explosion was followed by the sound of the tree splintering beneath him.

* * *

Sakura landed on the ground next to her two teammates, shaking the dust from her clothes and hair.

"Did you have fun Sakura-sama?" Akito asked dryly.

She grinned mischievously. "Yeah. One of them just wouldn't stop talking, it covered my approach wonderfully. What about you two?"

"One of mine fell on the first blow, the other one was easy. It was rather disappointing."

"Pft. Mine kept throwing shuriken at me, I swear he had an infinite supply. It was terrible." Kie whined.

His two teammates shared a glance before they burst out laughing.

"What? Why are you laughing? Shut up!" His face was turning red, making them laugh harder.

Finally, Sakura straightened, wiping her eyes. "Well..." she coughed to disguise another laugh. "Let's go get that scroll huh?"

She kicked in the door to the house in front of them, scanning the room before stepping in.

The room was sparse with only a small table in the middle of the room. The scroll was positioned exactly in the center of the table.

Sakura blinked for a few moments, stepping forward to pick it up and open it. She read the first two lines out loud. "The History of The Dream Walkers. Also known as Yuurei."

She stared at the scroll for a few moments, going over those lines again. "What the hell?"

And then the world went dark.

* * *

"_Sakura-chan? What are you doing here? Wait a minute. Where is here?"_

"_Hn. Shut up dobe, you're too noisy."_

_Sakura blinked, seeing Naruto standing over her with a worried look. She sat up and looked around seeing Sasuke leaning against a wall. _

"_Okay. What the hell am I doing here? I was just on a mission. Oh I get it. I must have passed out. This is just another stupid Nightmare."_

* * *

**_Well. That's the end of this chapter._**

**_Was this an evil cliffhanger?_**

**_And I'm sorry about all the page breakss, I'll try to have less next chapter._**

**_A small crash course in Japanese:_**

**_Yume Dream_**

**_Chishio Blood_**

**_Tetsu Iron_**

**_Hai yes_**

**_I'm pretty sure that's all that's really important._**

**_Anyways..._**

**_Please read and review I'd love you forever if you did._**

**_Witty Comment of the Day: Has anyone honestly tried to count how many licks it takes to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop? I can say I am one of those losers who did. I got in like 350-ish licks before I gave up because I was bored. Well that's ADD for-hey look a bird!_**

**_-God's Broken Dreamer_**


	2. Past Problems

_**Wow!**_

**_Two updates in one day!_**

**_That's amazing for me!_**

**_A bonafide miracle._**

**_Count yourselves lucky._**

**_Anyways..._**

**_Thank you for taking the time to read this, I really appreciate it._**

"Talking"

_Thinking (Does not show up in this chapter)_

**Inner Sakura (Does not show up in this chapter)**

**_Author Note_**

**_Enjoy!_**

**_Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. _**

* * *

_**Chapter Two: Past Problems**_

_"A Nightmare? Sakura-chan that's rude. We're team seven aren't we?" Naruto stared at her with hurt eyes._

_"Not anymore. Ever since __**he **__left the wheels started spinning. Then you went after him and left me behind. Team seven is just a name now. Maybe that's all it ever was. The only People left are Kakashi-sensei, Sai, and I."_

_"You still call him Sensei?" Sasuke asked with a scoff._

_"He still teaches me. Maybe you would've learned something from him too if you hadn't been a power hungry bastard with tastes leaning towards gay."_

_Sasuke lunged for her but she easily sidestepped, delivering a powerful hit to the back of his head and sending him careening into the floor. They were stopped from any further fighting by Naruto's voice._

_"S-Sakura-chan is that an ANBU uniform?"_

_It was the first time Sasuke noticed it and his eyes widened._

_Sakura nodded, pulling her mask out from her pack. "Didn't you know? I'm a captain now. With my own squad and everything."_

_"I see you all still don't get along." They all spun to face the new figure, their eyes narrowing._

_"You!"_

"_I can't believe I lost to you. Look at you. You still bicker like toddlers over a toy." The figure reached up and removed his mask with a sigh. "I mean you didn't even sense my approach. Oh that could have something to do with the fact that I'm dead and you aren't. At least you recognized me right away. But honestly, __**this**__ is all that the __**great**__ team seven became? A group of people whose differences became too much?"_

"_What about you, Haku? Just a pathetic idiot who died for a man and became just another forgotten part of history?" _

"_That was phrased too intelligently to be Naruto, who were you again?"_

_Sasuke growled but left it alone, he knew the man was only doing it to get under his skin._

_Sakura spun on her heel and began walking away from all of them. It really wasn't worth her time to listen to them and her team needed her._

"_You can't get out like that."_

_She threw a glance over her shoulder at Haku and smirked. "Wanna bet?" And she disappeared._

_All their eyes widened, Haku's especially. "She shouldn't be able to do that. Not unless she found…. no we hid that too well."_

"_Hid what?" Naruto and his innocent yet prying questions. _

"_You need to leave. Both of you." Haku waved his hands and the world once more went dark._

* * *

Sakura's eyes opened to a world of white. Actually, she was just staring at a white ceiling but that was plenty 'world' enough for her.

"Before you ask you're at the Hospital and you've been unconscious for four days." A familiar voice greeted her.

"Four days?"

"Hai. I'm not kidding."

"What happened, Shishou?"

"According to your team you opened the scroll, read them a line and then just dropped. They panicked, grabbed you and the scroll and high-tailed it home. Where-as upon their arrival, in the middle of a report from another team, they crashed down my door and demanded I figure out what the hell was wrong with you."

"And the verdict was?"

"Absolutely nothing."

"Damn."

"Sakura, we think that the scroll was cursed. You have to tell me…what happened when you opened that scroll."

"Nothing important."

"Sakura…" She said in a warning tone.

"I just had a run-in with my past. It isn't important."

Sakura sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, standing quickly. She stretched her sore muscles lazily, turning to face Tsunade.

"Shishou, I'm fine. Seriously. Now where's my team? If it's been four days we probably have another mission we can do."

"No Sakura. You are taking a week off. We cannot risk losing one of our best ninjas."

"You aren't going to lose me, Shishou."

"We might if that scroll was cursed."

"Shishou. The scroll wasn't cursed. I would have sensed it. I checked it before I ever opened it."

Actually….

She hadn't.

It was stupid. She knew.

But it had been whispering to her to open it.

Something in her had known it wasn't cursed.

So she'd opened it.

She regretted it already.

Didn't she know better than to trust her emotions?

Apparently not.

She'd made such a dumb mistake.

A rookie mistake.

And look at what it had brought her.

Four days of unconsciousness.

"Well if you say so Sakura."

"What about the scroll, Shishou? Where is it?"

"It's safe. We barely managed to pry the damn thing from your hands when you got here. You wouldn't let go. And when we opened it, it was just gibberish. Obviously it's in code. It's amazing you could understand enough to read some to your team."

"But Tsunade-shishou, it wasn't it gibberish! It was as plain as day what it said!"

Tsunade gave her pupil a strange look before sighing and pulling the scroll from her pocket. She held it out to Sakura. "If you say so. You really need that week off don't you? Here, look over the scroll, see if you can tell us what it says when you get back."

"But!"

She was silenced with one look from her Shishou.

"Fine. I'll take a week off."

* * *

Sakura stared at the clock, an extremely bored look on her face.

She'd been pouring over the scroll for hours.

It seemed to be a never-ending stream of mythology.

Apparently these 'Dream Walkers' were people who had discovered a way to remove their bodies from the corporeal world and cross over into the realm of dreams. They could connect the dreams of others, communicate over long distances, and travel in what seemed like the blink of an eye. According to the scroll these people even had the power to communicate with the dead.

Sakura highly doubted that these people had _ever_ existed outside of dreams.

She had almost finished reading the whole scroll by now, just a few more lines were left.

The doorbell rang.

She headed to answer it, scroll in hand, with a frown stretched across her lips. She yanked the door open to see Kakashi standing there.

"Kakashi-Sensei? What are you doing here?"

He looked up from his book with a smile. Well rather, his eye crinkled at the edge so you could assume he was smiling.

"Well I was wondering if perhaps you might like to fill your lonely hours with me?"

"Was that an invitation, or a jab at how pathetic my life is currently?"

"It was an invitation." He chided. "A dinner invitation."

She sighed, hands on her hips. "Let me get my coat."

* * *

Sakura smiled as she opened the door to her apartment.

Dinner had been fun, but her mind was on other things. She'd taken the scroll with her although she'd only been able to read a few lines. Kakashi had been distracting her the entire time, telling stupid jokes or asking a prying question.

It was relaxing.

She turned around to face Kakashi, who was leaning lazily against the door frame.

"Would you like to come in? Have a beer or something?"

He smiled, or appeared to anyways. "I wouldn't want to put you out."

"That's okay. I can handle it."

She didn't even know why she'd bothered saying it. He was coming in anyways. He always did.

She hung up her coat and started for the living room after Kakashi when a small sound made her turn around.

The scroll had fallen out of the pocket of her jacket somehow and was rolling across the wooden floor towards her.

Her brow furrowed in confusion as she leaned down to pick it up.

It rolled open and stopped right in front of her.

She stared at it for a few moments, her eyes wide. How had it fallen?

She grabbed it, moving to roll it back up when her eyes caught on the last two lines. The only two she hadn't read yet.

Life is an illusion.

There is no truth without the lie.

And then she was burning.

She must have been screaming because the last thing she saw before the darkness claimed her was Kakashi's face above her, a desperate look in his eye.

* * *

**_Does that qualify as an evil cliffhanger?_**

**_Well anyways..._**

**_Thanks for reading._**

**_I'd love you forever if you reviewed._**

**_Really._**

**_Witty Comment of the Day: Well today's witty comment of the day is a quote!_**

**_People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute._**

**_-Rebecca West_**

**_And isn't that the damn truth._**

**_Ciao!_**

**_~God's Broken Dreamer_**


	3. Stormy Horizons

_**Hey there!**_

_**I'm back!**_

_**After such a long time with no update whatsoever.**_  
_**Once again, probably not the story most of my readers wanted.**_

_**But this one's the one that was begging me to continue the story.**_

_**Thanks always to those of you who read and review.**_

_**Love ya!**_

"Talking"

_Thinking or Dreaming (Trust me you'll be able to tell the difference)_  
_**Thinking in the dream**_

_**(Author note)**_

**_Chapter Three: Stormy Horizons_**

* * *

_The first thing she became aware of was a voice._

"_You shouldn't keep coming here."_

_The room filled in around her._

_Walls, a table, chairs, pillars._

_She was crouched in the corner and Haku was standing in the doorway._

_She was back in her Nightmare._

_She turned her head slightly._

"_What do you care, Haku?"_

"_I don't. You read the scroll. I realize that now, so you should know why you shouldn't keep coming here."_

"_As if I had a choice."_

"_You do. You just haven't realized it yet."_

_A new voice entered their conversation._

"_Why am I back here again?"_

"_Hello, Naruto" Haku bowed to the new figure._

_Sakura sighed, disgust plain in her voice. "So when should I expect Sasuke to show up?"_

"_He's already here." Sasuke stepped from the shadows and she sneered._

"_Why are you sitting in the corner, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked innocently._

"_She came here that way. It wasn't her choice. She hasn't figured out how to choose yet." Haku interrupted their conversation again,_

"_Sakura can speak for herself."_

"_As if you ever noticed that, Sasuke." Sakura stood, turning to face them all and leaning against the wall._

_Sasuke flinched. He didn't know why he cared, but when had she stopped calling him Sasuke-kun? He supposed he missed it, missed her, in his own stupid way. _

_Naruto frowned at the both of them then turned fully to Sakura, interest in…something plain on his face. "Ne, Sakura-chan, You aren't wearing your ANBU uniform today."_

"_Of course she isn't. Tsunade forced her to take a week off. For good reason, she collapsed on a mission and was unconscious for somewhere around three days."_

_Now Kakashi stood in the doorway alongside Haku. "Yo. Speaking of, how on earth did I get here?"_

_Sakura stared at him. "K-Kakashi-sensei?"_

_He blinked and his one eye crinkled, a sign of a smile. "Yes Sakura?"_

_She slid down the wall, relief apparent on her face. "Oh good. I'm not going crazy."_

_Sasuke frowned at Sakura's happy expression. _**Why is she so happy seeing ****him****? **_"So you mean she __failed__ a mission?"_

_Her eyes snapped to his in a death glare that would make even the stoutest of men shake in their boots, __mind you it didn't affect him.__** (Possibly because he had no manhood whose size he had to worry about. No wait...that's not right....IGNORE THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!) **__She stood up and walked a few steps toward him, though what she intended was unclear. Kakashi's voice stopped her._

"_Actually, to the contrary. She successfully retrieved the scroll she was supposed to, and it was only as they were returning that she passed out. Her team still managed to successfully deliver the scroll to the Hokage." Kakashi crinkled his eye as Sakura smiled at him, a brief flash of her younger self. _

"_But __**she**__ didn't. Someone else delivered it." The smile froze in place and she tensed._

**Approaching meltdown.**

"_But she translated it successfully...a code that no codebreaker in our village could decipher."_

"_But kakashi-sensei, it wasn't in code....It was as plain as day what it said" Sakura protested weakly._

"_See?" Sasuke asked. "Perhaps there's a justu on the scroll that only the first one to touch it can see what it contains."_

**Loading.....**

_Sakura twitched._

**Meltdown loading.....**

"_And besides, what could that useless girl really do? After all, She may be an ANBU captain, but I bet her team does everything, She just sits back and takes all the credit."_

**50% complete...**

"_You mean like you do?" Sakura smiled sweetly at him. "I'm sorry, but a leadership position in Konoha has to be achieved by skill, actual ninja skill, not just letting your superior fuck you in the ass, sasuke."_

_It was sasuke's turn to twitch and clench his fists._

**Loading.....**

"_Oh like you don't have a clue about that Sakura."_

**75% complete....**

"_You're a kunoichi aren't you? I'm sure you've had to go on some of __**those**__ missions! So tell me, Sakura, what was it like? Fucking someone you didn't even know and then killing them?"_

**Meltdown initiated....**

_The ground shook, the room shook, things on the walls crashed to the floor, the pillars wobbled, threatening to topple and crush them, and through it all sakura screamed, her chakra swirling around her in a red mass of rage. _

_Haku had long since hit the deck and he was pulling kakashi to the ground when the first pillar started to fall. _

_Naruto was cowering in the corner that sakura had first occupied and sasuke was just standing there like an idiot, gaping at the ball of hate that had once been his teammate. _

"_Sasuke-teme, get down!" Naruto was the one shouting now, crawling across the floor, avoiding the rubble, to make it to sasuke. He grabbed sasuke's pant leg, unceremoniously yanking his feet out from under him and ensuring he landed face down on the floor. This action was assisted by the fact that the entire floor was now covered with a light dusting of snow which was only growing heavier. Wait....snow?_

_Haku was standing up now, his hand outstretched, and the snow seemed to be swirling out from his palm._

"_Sakura!" He shouted as he fought the winds she was producing, forcing his way closer to her. "Sakura, calm down! He didn't mean it like that! He was just goading you into getting angry! Sakura, you're going to kill us all and destroy this world!"_

_The second pillar detached itself from the ceiling and crumbled into nothingness. Sasuke had, by this time, managed to make it into a more dignified position than being face down on the floor, and was instead sitting back and staring in dawning horror at the monster he'd created._

"_Sakura, you're Yuurei! Think of what you're doing! You're more powerful than any of the others! Are you prepared to take them with you? Are you willing to make that sacrifice?" Haku looked back at sasuke with disgust. "For nothing more than a bit of petty revenge?"_

_The third pillar shook and threatened to fall._

_Then the winds slowed._

_Then they died._

_Sakura's feet touched the ground. (When she'd begun to float in the middle of the room, no one could quite remember.)_

_The swirling mass of chakra died, swallowed up once again by its creator._

_A voice broke the silence. _

"_I-I didn't mean to..."_

_And then sakura collapsed, falling forward and colliding with Haku as he caught her. _

"_Well that was fun. Let's try not to do that again, alright, kiddies?" Kakashi crinkled his eye in a smile, getting to his feet as Haku gently lowered Sakura to the ground._

"_I-I don't understand. What happened? What __**was**__ that?" Sasuke got shakily to his feet, trying to regain some of his previous haughty demeanor._

"_Well I don't see why you 'don't understand.' You created __**that,**__ after all. You with your words and your sneers and your idiocy!" Haku was near yelling by this point. "You provoked her to the point that she became __**that**__! Look around you, Uchiha! Weren't these people once your precious people? What changed that? Did you become 'too good' for that? Do you want to spend the rest of your existence alone and abandoned?! Do you want to never be together with your precious people ever again, sasuke? Is that what you want?"_

_The room was silent._

"_No, Haku...it's okay..." _

"_Sakura!" Naruto rushed over to her, now wearing a goofy smile, and crushed her to his chest. "Heh, you really gave teme a good scare."_

_Sasuke snapped out of his trance-like state to snap. "Oh please. You were the one shaking the most of us all."_

"_What?" Naruto dropped Sakura abrubtly, wincing only when he heard her startled yelp, but continuing his tirade anyways. "You couldn't even move you were so scared teme! I had to move you out of the line of fire!"_

_Kakashi sighed. "Not that this routine of normalcy is no fun, but.....what are we doing here?"_

_Naruto and Sasuke both shut up and glared at each other while Haku answered the question._

"_You....were summoned here. Summoned by some powerful, inescapable force of nature." He glanced down at Sakura while he said this and sighed. "This force needs something from you, all of you. That's why it called you from your world."_

"_What does it need from us?" Sakura sat up slowly, painfully._

"_And what's in it for you?" Sasuke always had been the most suspicious of the three._

"_I don't know what it needs. It isn't as cut and dry as 'this is what I want'. And as for what __I__ want, Uchiha," He let his eyes bore into Sasuke's. "I want what you threw away. I want a connection once again to my precious person. Such is what I have been promised." _

_He glanced around at the four of them, all in different spots of the room. Sasuke and Naruto, back to glaring at each other from a few feet away. Sakura, struggling to her feet beside him, and Kakashi, still standing in the door way hesitantly, as if resisting the urge to come in._

"_How long must you torture each other like this? How long must these doors stay locked?"_

"_What?" Sakura was the only one who heard him. "What do you mean?"_

"_Nothing."_

_And then the dream was gone._

* * *

Sakura awoke to another white ceiling and the familiar beeping of machines resounding through the room.

She was back in the hospital.

"I hate it here."

"I must say, I am rather tired of it myself."

She started, jerking upright and turning her head jerkily to look at the occupant of the bed next to hers. "K-Kakashi-sensei?!"

"Well, hello Sakura." His eye crinkled upwards, a sign he was smiling. "Glad to see you've woken up."

"W-what are we doing here? Weren't we in my apartment?" The unspoken question remained hanging in the air. _Weren't we in my dream?_

"I myself, find me wondering what you two are doing here. I've grown quite tired of seeing your faces this past week." Tsunade leaned against the doorway, flipping through a chart. "You both were, by all means, completely healthy with nothing wrong, and yet, we had no way by which to wake you up." She put her hands on her hips. "Care to explain that?"

Silence greeted her question as they both gaped at her and she sniffed. "Well, guess not. You're both lucky your neighbor was home, Sakura, and heard your screaming. According to her you would make quite a wonderful singer with the lung power you've got. Both of you."

Silence again. She sighed. "Well, you're free to check yourselves out at anytime, unless there's anything you'd like to tell me....? No? Alright. Fine. Get going. There are too many sick people to have you taking up space. Go on, go." She massaged the bridge of her nose in annoyance as they both quickly gathered their wits and made their way to the hall.

"Oh and no missions for three days! For the both of you!"

They groaned in unison.

_What are we going to do with ourselves?_

_

* * *

_

"Kakashi-sensei..."

"Yes Sakura?"

"We were out for a week?"

"So it seems, that's what Tsunade said..."

"Was it fake?"

"Do you hurt?"

"No."

There was an amicable silence between them for a few moments, before Kakashi sighed, pulling at his mask uncomfortably. "No."

"So you remember it too?"

He didn't answer her, choosing instead to change the subject. "So would you like to go out for dinner, Sakura?"

She narrowed her eyes playfully, reading the answer behind his "Depends. Am I paying?"

He acted offended, putting his hand to his heart and looking stricken. "Why of course not! What kind of man would I be if I didn't treat the lady I invited out?"

"The modern kind, I'm sure."

He scoffed. "Well obviously the modern kind of man has no idea how to woo a woman."

A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "And is that what you're doing, Kakashi-sensei? Wooing me?"

He laughed. "Only if it gets you to call me Kakashi instead of Kakashi-sensei. I'm not your teacher anymore Sakura."

"You're still my superior. Still the leader of what's left of team seven, Kakashi-sensei. You still teach me."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Alright, point proven. Now, do you accept my invitation?"

"Oh, all right.." She put her hands on her hips. "But don't even think about having a sudden excuse to leave in the middle and make me pay."

"I would never dream of doing such a thing, Sakura."

"Of course."

They walked off laughing, a brief respite from the war around them, time spent in the company of friends.

But neither one of them forgot of it's presence.

A dark shadow lay on the horizon for them

and they saw it clearly.

And through the laughter that clouded the rest of their day.

They still saw the storm coming.

Could almost feel the rain falling on their faces.

Echoes of what may yet be to come.

Flashes in the distance.

Like lightning.

And through it all, the same thoughts played over and over again through their heads.

Voices repeating a mantra.

_It isn't as cut and dry as 'this is what I want'..._

A haunting melody within their minds.

_I want what you threw away..._

A cold shiver down their spines.

_That is what I have been promised...._

Two shades of Onyx, a dash of Emerald and sapphire rays of light locking with the sky.

_How long must these doors stay locked...._

Sharing the same view, same stars, hundred of miles apart

_Nothing..._

All thinking different and yet same things.

_I will do what I have set out to do..._

_Nothing can distract me from my path._

Sakura looked away from the sky, focusing on the ground at her feet.

_One step after the other. Keep moving._

_Feelings fade with time._

_People need you now._

_Fulfill your purpose._

Kakashi stuffed his hands in his pockets, the familiar orange-covered book absent for once.

_Protect those precious to you._

_This is your second chance._

_I will not fail this time._

Sasuke stopped on the path, turning his head to view the smoke drifting behind him, his eyes cold.

_Burn it to the ground behind you._

_Leave nothing but the memories of screams._

_Forget your past._

_Achieve revenge._

A blonde haired-boy smiling, even through the destruction of the forest around him.

The destruction caused by his training.

_Get stronger._

_Bring him home._

_Team seven still has a chance to be team seven again._

And then the dream was gone.

* * *

**_So how'd you like it?_**

_**Not bad, eh?**_

_**Well, pretty good for me that is.**_

_**So,**_

_**Read and Review?**_

_**Witty Comment of the Day: **__**When the apoclypse finally does come, and the beast and the dragon and the horseman appear, by the time the seraphim arrive, I wonder, will there be any of us left worth saving?**_

_**Ciao, **_

_**~God's Broken Dreamer  
**_


	4. A Mind of its Own

_**Look! I'm back!**_

_**Have you noticed I'm fixing my habit of not updating for six months at a time?**_

_**Anyways,**_

_**I give you chapter four of Dreaming of You**_

_**In which inner Sakura features not at all.**_

"Talking"

_'Thinking or Dreaming'_

* * *

It had been one month without incidence.

Tsunade had confiscated the scroll.

Sakura and Kakashi had protested its removal almost violently, but, since neither of them would even give a clue as to what had happened in her apartment, the scroll seemed the only likely suspect. Well, it _was_ its fault anyway, not that either of them really cared about that.

Their three days without missions had passed rather quickly and the both of them had been extremely glad to get back to doing something productive, even if Tsunade was being stingy and not giving them anything over B ranked.

It. was. boring.

Sakura had been feeling the pent up need to scream and not stop for the past two and a half weeks of it.

At least the scroll had given her somewhat _INTERESTING_ nightmares.

And nightmares _was_ what they were. Her days with team seven had faded to nothing beyond a peaceful dream, and the two confrontations with its remnants had been, well, less than pleasant.

Sakura sighed and stuffed her hands into her pockets, continuing down the street at a slow ambling pace. She hadn't left her apartment with any particular destination, but she knew where her feet were taking her. It was her place to think. Just like Kakashi had his memorial stone he visited every morning, she had her stone bench where it had all headed downhill.

She glanced up in surprise, there was someone else sitting on her bench. They weren't looking at her, so all she could tell was that they had long black hair that was up in a bun. She cocked her head to the side. Why did that seem so familiar? The person turned to look at her and she was face to face with a hunter-nin mask. She knew that mask, it was impossible to mistake it. "Haku..."

He reached for her, painted fingernails scratching along her cheek lightly as she stood frozen. She could see her breath in the air and it felt like the hand now cupping her cheek was made of ice.

His other hand came up, senbon needle in its grasp and she closed her eyes, anticipating a blow that never came. She cracked open an eye to see that the mask and needle were gone and Haku was smiling at her. He opened his mouth to say something and dissolved into snow. But, she could still hear his voice clearly.

"Come back, Sakura. You must return. Our time is running out."

She blinked and the snow blew away, leaving the bench as pristine as before, as though nothing had been there. Sakura sat before her knees gave out. "What? What was that? Come back, Sakura?" She slid a hand through her hair nervously. "It's just, just hallucinations. You're just stressed and you let the scroll, the dreams, get to you. It was nothing." She put her head between her knees and covered her ears, not knowing what she was blocking out. "Nothing..."

* * *

Tsunade stared at the scroll on her desk like it was the devil incarnate. Her best codebreakers couldn't even translate a word of the damn thing. All she had to go on was what Sakura's team had heard her read aloud before she had passed out and Sakura certainly wouldn't tell her what it said.

Tsunade just knew this scroll was the reason Sakura had kept passing out. She just knew it was what had dragged Kakashi into it too, she just didn't have any proof. Without that, she'd probably have to give it back to Sakura soon, as the only one who could read it, the scroll should rightfully be in her possession, specifically in the face of the fact that she'd sworn it wasn't cursed.

She'd made certain of that on her own anyways. It wasn't that she didn't trust Sakura's judgment, it was just that she couldn't shake the feeling that the scroll was bad news and she needed to get rid of it.

Every nerve in her body was screaming at her to throw the damn thing into the nearest fire and be done with it.

But, she knew she couldn't. Someone had wanted that scroll badly enough to spread rumors about it to get it out of its hidden location and into hands from which it was steal-able. That meant she had to protect it until they figured out who wanted it and why.

Even if it killed her to do it.

* * *

Everything had become complicated in such a short time. He'd known where he was going only a few weeks ago. He'd had everything planned, everything under control. And then that damn scroll had come along and everything had gone to pieces. Now he didn't have a clue what tomorrow was bringing.

He hated it.

He was The Copy-nin for god's sake, son of konoha's white fang, an ex-ANBU, sensei to Team seven, the team that had once been the most promising of them all, the team that had been so much like his own had been.

But all of that had crumbled too and he couldn't lay that bit of blame on the scroll, it sat at his own feet. He hadn't been careful enough, he should have watched Sasuke more closely. He shouldn't have treated Sakura like extra baggage. God, he really had done that hadn't he?

One of the most promising genjustu users ever and he'd thrown her to the side and ignored her because he had the kyuubi and the last uchiha and she had seemed like such a small thing in comparison.

She hadn't needed all of his attention.

But, she had needed a kind word from him at least.

She hadn't needed to be coddled and treated like she was weak.

He knew how strong she was now.

But he had done all of that anyways.

He'd ignored her whenever he could and, when that didn't work, he'd coddled her like she was a child who couldn't look out for herself.

He'd never even given her the praise she'd deserved for learning to climb trees with chakra before Sasuke and Naruto had.

No, Kakashi, fool that he was, had concentrated all of his attention on Sasuke and Naruto, just like he always had.

He had let the member of his team with the most room for growth fall into the background so far that he hadn't even noticed what she was going through.

He hadn't noticed anything until it was almost too late.

Until Tsunade had sent him to find out why she had missed her hospital rounds without notice.

Until he'd found her on her bedroom floor.

She'd been so still, so pale.

Kakashi would never forgive himself for not noticing sooner.

Just like he wouldn't forgive himself for not saving Rin or Obito.

At least Sakura had survived her ordeal.

But, she had been forever changed.

Why did she go to Sai for emotion training? She could have asked him.

But, he'd never been there for her before, why should that have changed just because he knew she was broken?

She'd always been broken, or been cracked for so long that Kakashi hadn't even noticed when she shattered.

"How could I be so blind?"

The stone before him had no answers. It had never answered any of his questions, not that he'd ever expected it to. Stone could not talk. Speech was not its purpose. Stone was meant to be a record. A record of what was never truly revealed, but, stone did record. It recorded the passage of time, the deaths of loved ones, the great services done.

Stone was good at its job.

Stone knows all answers.

But, for all of its knowledge, stone cannot speak.

* * *

Sakura closed the door to her apartment behind her wearily, hanging her coat on the stand by the door and walking down the hall. She'd spent the entire day at the hospital, from the time she'd left her bench that morning until ten. Needless to say, she was exhausted. She was prepared to do nothing except get into her pajamas, brush her teeth and fall into bed.

She certainly wasn't expecting to find Kakashi sitting at her kitchen table and flipping through one of his porn novels.

"Didn't I tell you those things weren't allowed in my apartment?"

He made a noncommittal noise and she sighed, pulling out the chair across from him and sinking into it gratefully.

"Tough day?" He asked.

"No kidding."

"Eaten anything yet?"

"No, a whole injured squad came in and I missed my lunch break." He was standing and rummaging through her cabinets before she had finished speaking and she was too tired to protest the intrusion.

"You're eating before bed, I don't care whether you promise you'll eat breakfast or not."

She didn't bother answering him, knowing there wasn't any point, and instead propped her head up on her hand, trying to stay awake. A hand on her shoulder a bit of time later roused her from a comfortable doze and she groaned.

"Why can't you just let me sleep, Kakashi-sensei?"

He set a bowl of steaming hot ramen in front of her and smiled, or at least his eye crinkled to imply he was smiling. "If I just let you sleep you probably wouldn't eat until tomorrow night, at least. That's not healthy at all."

She rolled her eyes sleepily. "Yes, mother."

He leaned against the table and closer to her in a way that made him loom over. She was suddenly very nervous and very wide awake. He reached out and she flinched, but all he did was pat her cheek and tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I am certainly not your mother, Sakura. Do remember not to call me that again."

She nodded so jerkily her vision swam.

He smiled again and patted her on the head. "Good girl." Then he was out of her personal space and moving to fetch himself a bowl and chopsticks as well. "Now, to ensure that you eat breakfast as well, I'm going to camp on your couch tonight."

She opened her mouth to protest but Kakashi was suddenly there popping a bite of ramen into her mouth. She chewed slowly. "S'good."

He smiled. "Besides, tomorrow I have plans for us to gang up on Tsunade and force her to move us off the 'nothing over B-rank' list."

Sakura grinned. "Evil man."

He sniffed. "I wouldn't expect you to be able to understand the devious workings of my mind, plebian."

Sakura snorted, but didn't give him an answer, deciding instead to concentrate on eating her ramen. He sat across from her and got out his book again, turning pages as he ate.

She didn't tell him to put it away.

* * *

Kakashi woke somewhere around three to the feeling that something was terribly wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. He sat up and glanced around the apartment but he couldn't see anything that would make him uneasy.

His instincts had never steered him wrong before so he rolled off the couch and padded silently into Sakura's bedroom. He noted that she was sleeping peacefully and was even more confused. Everything appeared to be fine, so what on earth had woken him?

The answer to his question came when Kakashi returned to the couch and lay back down to find a lump beneath his pillow. That hadn't been there when he'd gone to sleep. He reached under the pillow and pulled out a scroll. A very familiar scroll.

A scroll he'd seen Sakura pouring over at dinner almost a month ago. Or had it been longer than that? His week in unconsciousness had skewed his sense of time's passage.

The point remained, this was the scroll that was the source of all their problems. The one he was almost certain Tsunade had under lock and key in her office.

What was it doing here?

A cursory check revealed nothing of interest. He frowned and rolled it open.

_The history of the Dream Walkers: Also known as Yuurei._

And then, beneath that, a few lines that had not been there before flickered into existence.

_Traveler Beware, you have opened a door._

_Through this door you will find a realm of magycks unknown._

_There is no turning back._

_Prepare to leave your world behind._

_Traveler Beware, you have opened a door._

And then the dream pulled him in.

* * *

_Sakura opened her eyes in the great white room again. A gust of wind made her shiver and she realized the walls had faded into nothingness. She took a step forward and glanced down in surprise as snow crunched beneath her feet. She spun around. There was snow as far as the eye could see._

"_Haku?"_

_The wind snatched away the echoes of her voice in that great empty space. It frightened her. She looked around, looked for anything, a snatch of color in the white, some sign of life. Before she knew it she was running, running like her life depended on it. She looked over her shoulder nervously every few seconds, crying out for someone, anyone. _

"_Haku?!"_

_Sakura barreled straight into someone's chest and fell back into the snow._

_And kept falling. _

_Then she was drowning._

_Drowning in cold and fear. She couldn't breath and she couldn't see, but someone was laughing._

_Someone was laughing as she died._

_She reached out, desperately, for something, anything to hold onto. _

_Hands grasped hers and pulled her to the surface, into the light and she could see again, could breathe._

_She looked up and into two faces, both troubled. _

_Haku and Kakashi held her hands, Haku and Kakashi had pulled her from the dark._

_They had saved her._

_But, she was so cold._

_So, so, cold. _

"_She won't stop shivering." Kakshi's voice, concerned. "Why?"_

"_The snow. I can't stop it." That was Haku. "Someone's interfered, turned the snow against us."_

"_How do we stop it?"_

"_We can't. She can, though."_

"_Sakura? How can she stop it?" Sakura moaned, she was looking at the world through a fog, hearing everything through static. Were they talking about her?_

"_She's more than she seems, our Sakura. More than she seems..."_

"_So, how do we fix her?"_

"_She needs warmth."_

"_I was afraid you'd say that."_

_Haku chuckled. "Yes, copy-nin, I know you were. But we all have to grow up sometime."_

_Then there were warms hands gripping her shoulders, shaking her._

"_Sakura, wake up! Don't let the cold take you. Concentrate on the warmth."_

_Arms wrapped around her, drew her close. Her eyes fluttered open. _

"_Kakashi? Haku?" Her voice was so weak. "What are you doing?"_

"_We're helping, Sakura." That was Kakashi, he never gave straight answers._

"_You need warmth, Sakura." Haku wasn't much better at it either._

"_Warmth? Yes... I'm so...so cold." The white rose in a wave and dragged her under until all she could feel was the cold. She could hear voices calling her through the fog that was her mind but she didn't have the strength to answer them. _

"_-not enough, dammit!" _

"_She needs more help than we can give."_

"_Fuck!" Kakashi was swearing, he never swore. Something must be terribly wrong if he was swearing. He sounded so desperate. She didn't like it when he sounded that way, Kakashi was supposed to be secure and in charge. He never needed help. _

_She wanted him to stop sounding like that._

"_What's going on?" That was a new voice, one she recognized but couldn't name. Whoever it was, was bewildered. _

"_Why is there so much snow? Is this your doing, Haku?" Another voice she recognized, one that was as cold as she was. The white dragged her under again._

"_-mit, Sasuke!"_

"_We're losing her!"_

"_What?!" The first new voice was back, alarmed now. "How can we help?"_

"_What's this we, dobe? I never offered my help."_

"_Help or fuck off, Uchiha." Now Sakura was even more confused. Why was Kakashi so angry with Sasuke? And when had she realized it was Sasuke talking? That must mean that the first voice was Naruto. Why were they here?_

"_Why you-"_

"_Enough!" Haku didn't have to roar to get his point across. "She's barely hanging on! Whoever did this is powerful. Stay or go, Uchiha, but choose quickly."_

"_...."_

"_Well?"_

"_Goddammit!" And then she was gone._

_

* * *

_

_Sakura was burning up. Her entire body was roasting. She groaned and opened her eyes to stare up into a blue sky. Wait, hadn't she fallen asleep in her apartment? _

_Oh, yes..._

_And then she had dreamed...._

_It was odd to be sleeping in a dream, she thought. Dreadfully odd. Such a thing had never happened before._

_Sakura sat up and stretched, yawning, then she stopped and stared. She was lying in a pile of...bodies. Thankfully, they were all alive but it was still unnerving. Why couldn't she remember anything? How had she gotten here? All she **could** remember was white, white and cold and snow._

_And yet, here she was, with four shirtless men in a great big puppy pile. Kakashi had an arm thrown around her waist, pressing himself against her side, and the 'pillow' beneath her head was Haku's arm. Sasuke had an arm resting over her hips and Naruto's arm was curved around her calf. _

_That was only the beginning of the strangeness._

_Gone was the white and snow, instead they were in a meadow, flowers springing up around them. A blanket spread against the grass beneath them that was as soft as a kitten. Sakura lay back down with a contented sigh. _

"_Enjoying the eye candy?" She turned to her side and smirked at Kakashi._

"_You wish." _

_He smirked back, or she imagined he did. It was hard to tell. "Of course I do."_

_She reached out to tap his mask disapprovingly. "Can't even remove it to save your student? I'm disappointed."_

_He clasped her hand gently and moved it away from his mask. "Well, if I didn't leave it on, you'd have nothing to wonder about anymore, and, I'd hate for you to be bored."_

_She snorted. "Right."_

_There was a groan from her other side and she glanced back to see Haku open his eyes. "Can't a man sleep in peace when he's dead?"_

_She frowned at that. He met her eyes and shrugged. "Well, I am. Would you prefer I lied and pretended you weren't there when I died?"_

_Sakura sighed. "No, no. You don't have to pretend, Haku."_

_He gave her a soft smile. _

"_Oh, look, she's awake. Can I go now?"_

_Sakura sat up to glare at Sasuke. "I never asked for your help!"_

"_Well, you damn well needed it!"_

"_Shut up, teme." Naruto mumbled, punching Sasuke lightly in the arm. " 's too early for yelling." _

_Sasuke looked at Naruto like he was dirt on his shoes, but Naruto just punched him again and rolled over. Sakura laughed. _

_Kakashi hooked an arm around Sakura's neck and dragged her back down. "It really is too early to be shouting."_

_She raised an eyebrow. "How would you know? I don't see any clocks here."_

_He tapped his forehead and winked. She rolled her eyes._

_Haku chose that moment to interrupt. "I'm sending you back, all of you. You've been here too long. You have opened a door and it is not good to stand on this side for too long."_

"_Traveler beware..." Kakashi murmured. Haku fixed his gaze on him._

"_Where did you hear that?"_

"_I read it."_

_All was quiet for a moment before Haku sighed. "Another who can read it. I'll have to consult with the others."_

"_What?" Sakura asked._

_But Haku just shook his head._

_And then the dream was gone._

_

* * *

_

Sakura jerked awake in a hospital bed. She cursed and lifted her hand to punch the bed before she realized her fingers were intertwined with another's. She turned to see Kakashi was sharing her hospital bed for some reason.

And, still, their hands were intertwined.

She smiled softly and brushed a strand of hair away from his eyes.

They opened and she froze, pinned by that crimson and silver gaze.

The tension broke when he yawned and stretched, still not letting go of her hand. "Good morning." Then he recognized his surroundings and the cursing began again, from him this time.

"We couldn't get you to unclasp hands." They both turned to the voice in the doorway, finding Tsunade standing there, tapping her clipboard against the door frame impatiently. "Care to explain why you're back in my care?"

They exchanged confused glances and look back at her.

She tried again. "Do you know what day it is?"

They gave her a date and she sighed, massaging the bridge of her nose in irritation. "Wrong. It's been two and a half weeks since then." She took a seat in the uncomfortable metal visitor's chair. "Tell me what happened."

They shared another look.

"Shishou, I don't know what to tell you. We fell asleep."

"That's it?" She demanded. They nodded and Kakashi added.

"Her in her bed and I on the couch. How did we come to be holding hands?"

Tsunade sighed. "Damned if I know."

They sat in silence a while longer before Tsunade finally spoke. "According to our scans there's nothing wrong with you. I expect to see you both tomorrow morning in my office."

"Hokage-sama?"

"It's for a mission, don't worry. Now..." She cracked her knuckles and stood. "Get out of my sight."

* * *

The next morning dawned bright and early. Too early in Sakura's opinion as she dragged herself wearily up the steps of Hokage tower to Tsunade's office. Usually she came in through the window just to piss her Shishou off, but, Kakashi had that same habit and the windowsill was hardly large enough for the both of them.

Sakura sighed bitterly. She hated climbing stairs.

"How many more of these goddamn things are there?" She shielded her eyes and looked up, missing the next step because she was too busy gaping like an idiot.

Kakashi winced. That crash sounded like it had hurt, but, Sakura was back on her feet in less than a second and right in front of him.

"Kakashi-sensei? You're early!" She stopped and considered that, then shrugged. "Well, early for you. Why are you here? Why are you early?"

He took her shouting in stride and slid his hands into his pockets nonchalantly. "I'm here for the same exact reason you are, Sakura, remember?" She blushed and he smiled, or rather, his eye did that crinkle again, and patted her head. "I was going to offer you the option of going in through the window."

She gaped at him again.

"Really, now, Sakura-chan. It's rude to stare." He put a finger on her chin and her mouth closed with a snap.

"Oh-no-no, Kakashi-sensei, the window's all yours, really!" Her face turned an ever brighter shade of red, making him smile wider beneath his mask.

"Very kind of you Sakura-chan. So, I'll see you in, let's say half an hour?" She nodded with barely contained mirth. The Hokage had wanted them half an hour ago already.

But, it was just so easy to push Tsunade's buttons.

* * *

Tsunade drummed her fingers on her desk and knocked back another cup of sake. She stared at the cup blankly for a moment before throwing it across the room, where it collided with the wall and shattered into millions of pieces, and reaching for the bottle instead. Shizune would yell at her for that later.

She took a sip from the bottle and went back to drumming her fingers.

The door chose that moment to swing open and bang loudly against the wall. Tsunade winced at the noise, taking another calming sip and grunting. "Watch your step."

Sakura looked around suspiciously and sighed when she noticed the shards. "Couldn't you drink like a normal person, Shishou?"

Tsunade grunted again and spun her chair to face Kakashi where he sat on the windowsill. "S'bout damn time you got here."

"Terribly sorry we're late, Hokage-sama." Kakashi widened his one visible eye innocently. "You see, there was this beautiful pregnant woman who went into labor just as Sakura and I walked past her on our way to your meeting an hour ago."

Tsunade massaged the bridge of her nose. "Yes, Kakashi, I'm sure that's what happened." She took her hand away and pointed to the two chairs in front of her desk. "Sit."

The two ninja exchanged an uneasy glance, but took a seat anyways.

Tsunade clasped her hands in front of her on the desk and regard them both very seriously for a few moments. "So, tell me, how did that scroll come to be in your apartment, Sakura?"

Sakura and Kakashi stared at her blankly for a minute, then both began speaking at the same time.

"I don't know how-"

"That scroll was in my apartment?"

They stopped and stared at each other for a moment then, once more, spoke at once.

"You didn't know? I thought you put it there."

"Why didn't you tell me that the scroll was there?"

They stopped again and Tsunade massaged her temples, wondering exactly which god she'd offended recently. "So, when did you find it Kakashi, and where was it?"

He scratched his head absently. "It was under my pillow on the couch. I woke up, checked that everything was alright and when I lay back down it was there."

"And...?" Tsunade let the word drag itself out before slumping tiredly in her chair. "That's it?"

"Well, not quite." He sighed. "I opened it."

"That's not important, Kakashi, the thing's gibberish. Apparently only Sakura can read it."

"No, that's not it, you see, I _could_ read it. Every word."

Tsunade stared at him until the silence became painful. "You could _read it?"_ He winced, but nodded. "How? When did this happen? Why haven't you told me?" She was off and ranting. Kakashi was half afraid to interrupt to answer any of her questions, he wasn't in the mood to get his head bitten off.

Her face was red and her breathing was heavy by the time she'd finished. She reached for her sake bottle and took a swig before growling at the two in front of her. "Well?"

Kakashi managed a straight face when he answered her. "Well, what?"

He barely dodged the sake bottle that went flying at his head and joined the cup, that had once accompanied it, in pieces on the floor. " I hadn't realized I could read it until just then, Hokage-sama, and there was no opportunity to tell you until now."

He imagined if she could've justified it, she would've leaped over her desk and killed him in that moment. Instead, she opened a drawer and retrieved another sake bottle and two scrolls. She uncorked the bottle with her teeth and spit the cork across the room, taking a sip and tossing Sakura and him each one of the scrolls.

Tsunade set the bottle down and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Those're your mission scrolls. Kakashi, you're going with Sakura and her team to where they found the scroll. The details are inside the scrolls in your hands." She spun her chair and went to a cabinet on the wall, undoing a few chakra seals on it and pulling out one more scroll. She tossed it over her shoulder to them, Sakura caught it instinctively.

"Find the guards that were supposed to be there when you retrieved it, see what information you can get from them. Figure out what the scroll's purpose is."Tsunade turned to fix her gaze angrily on them both. "And, for the love of Kami, I never want to see that scroll again."

* * *

Sakura had started laughing once they'd left Tsunade's office and hadn't been able to stop. "Did you see her face? I was afraid she was about to explode!" She hung off of Kakashi's arm, laughing uncontrollably. He looked down at her and smiled, or rather, his eye did that crinkle again.

"Yes, it was quite humorous, wasn't it?"

"And when she threw that bottle at you?" She had to stop to breathe and Kakashi shook his head at her foolishness.

Her laughter died and she stopped walking. Kakashi looked down at her to see she was staring at something. He followed her gaze with mild interest to see it was her ANBU team, coming out of a bar a little ways ahead.

"That's right," He murmured. "You haven't seen them in a while."

"Sakura-sama!" Kei was the first one to notice her, waving exuberantly to get her attention, as though his ringing voice hadn't been enough.

Akito waved, much less obnoxiously then Kei had, and flashed her a small smile.

Shinto smacked Kei in the back of the head. "Don't you ever shut up?"

Sakura and Kakashi shared a glance. "Were we like that?" She asked.

He nodded, eye crinkling again when she laughed.

"However did you stand us?"

"Likely the same way you stand them. They grow on you."

She glanced sidelong at him. "Like a parasite."

They laughed.

* * *

"So, essentially, we've got to get back to that village and see if we can track whoever was originally guarding the scroll. We have to find them and discover exactly what the scroll's origins and purpose are." Sakura tapped the scroll spread on the table before them for emphasis. "The mission is S-class and you ought to know well enough by now where we're meeting and when to be there. I'll see you in a few hours."

Akito sighed. "I had hoped we were done with that scroll after we brought it back here, Sakura-sama. It makes me uneasy."

She ran a hand through her hair. "It makes me uneasy too, Akito, but, a mission is a mission. The faster we get it done with the faster you'll never have to see the scroll again."

Shinto tapped a kunai against the table thoughtfully. "It's just a scroll, Akito. I don't understand why you're so upset."

"But, you weren't there," Kei protested. "Of course you wouldn't understand! You didn't see what it did to Sakura-sama! She was unconscious for three days!"

Sakura cleared her throat and Kei reddened. "Yes, we all know the official story, let's get back to the matter at hand, shall we?"

Kakashi, leaning against the wall in the corner of the room observing, smiled. His Sakura had certainly grown up after leaving team seven, if you could ever really leave your genin team. He stopped and blinked, almost falling to the floor in his realization. His Sakura? Since when had she been _his_ Sakura? He covered his face with one of his hands. _Kami, I need a drink._

"Kakashi-sensei?" A voice pulled him from his reverie and he looked down to see Sakura staring at him.

"Um...yes, Sakura? Did you need something?"

"My team left to prepare and get some sleep already, Kakashi-sensei." She gestured toward the now empty room. "Maybe you ought to go pack too?"

He smiled sheepishly and scratched his head. "Oh, yes. Perhaps I should." He stepped away from the wall (and her) and stopped, turning to face her. "Oh, and, Sakura? Haven't I told you not to call me sensei?"

She grinned at him. "I'm sure you might have, but, if you have, I'm sure I've told you it's no use. I'll call you Kakashi-sensei for as long as you teach me."

Kakashi sighed. "Fine then, if you must, Sakura."

Sakura grinned again and stepped around him. "Oh, yes, I must."

He caught her arm as she stepped by, suddenly very serious. "Sakura."

She stopped, glancing at him in confusion. "Yes, Kakashi-sensei?"

"I'll take the scroll home with me, tonight." He said firmly. "You only had the....the dreams when the scroll was in your possession. Maybe, if I have it, you won't."

"But, Kakashi-sensei-"

He cut her off quickly, not quite sure he'd be able to resist whatever protest she came up with, not when she blinked those big, shining, emerald-jade eyes at him. "No. It's just an experiment, Sakura. I'll give it back if it doesn't work."

She swallowed and looked down. Why was it so hard to let go of the scroll? It had brought her nothing but trouble since the day she'd picked it up. "Alright, Kakashi-sensei. If you say so."

A finger beneath her chin tipped her face up so she met Kakashi's one visible eye squarely. He smiled at her. "Don't worry, Sakura. It'll be fine. We'll figure something out."

Sakura gave him a wobbly smile, but, a smile is a smile, and her's was breathtaking. Before he knew it, he'd moved his hand from supporting her chin to the nape of her neck, other hand tugging his mask down.

And, then, he was kissing her.

And, it was wrong.

It was all wrong.

He was her teacher.

He was at least _twice_ her age.

But,

Somewhere down under all the wrong,

It was all so very right.

* * *

_**Well, that calls the end of the longest chapter I have ever written. **_

_**There were quite a few more opportunities for an even more evil cliffhanger ending than this one, but I left them be and kept writing. Are you glad?**_

_**Lots of KakashixSakura fluff in this chapter.**_

_**A bit of team seven love with Haku thrown in.**_  
**_I'm sorry, but team seven love is just so adorable. =P  
_**

_**Anyways, thanks for reading! **_

_**Witty Comment of the Day: I find it amazing that cats always manage to find the same sun spot to sit in, whether the room is full of sunlight or pitch black.**_

_**Ciao,**_

_**~God's Broken Dreamer  
**_


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